Question

What is Secularism? List some features of secularism.

Answer 1

There are innumerable philosophers who cut their teeth on secularism over the past couple of centuries. My boiling down of their often impenetrable prose is as follows:

Freedom from other people’s religion - Other people’s belief sets are not the basis for governmental action, law and regulation, but instead empirical, scientifically valid evidence is the basis.Freedom of your own religion - You can believe whatever you want in a society where you are free from other people’s religion, whether it be in a 6,000 year old Earth or a Flying Spaghetti Monster.Reasonable accommodation - If your religious observance requires a certain headdress or ritual token on your body, and that headdress or token do not represent a harm to others, then it’s reasonable to accommodate your use of them. If your religious observation represents a harm to others, then the expectation is that you will moderate it in public. The hijab, a headscarf which covers the hair, harms no one ever, anywhere. The niqab and burka, which cover the face, prevent identification and at least in Canada, must be lifted in a private room for identification of the individual before they engage in public efforts such as citizenship or court trials. That’s reasonable accommodation. If you are of the subset of sikhs who believe that the kirpan, a ceremonial dagger, must be not merely symbolic but an accessible knife with a 12 cm, sharp metal blade, it is not as reasonable to accommodate your belief in school settings where knives are banned. Instead, the accommodation swings the other way to symbolic, 2 cm, dull blades stitched inside clothes or on a pendant.

Answer 2

Secularism simply defines that Every person has rights to choose whatever religion they want.They are Free to choose/accept any Religion and Government Allows them to do that